The invention relates to outboard marine drives, and more particularly to drainage of residual oil upon changing the oil filter.
An outboard marine drive typically includes an upper powerhead having an engine, a downwardly depending driveshaft housing, and a lower gearcase having a propulsor for propelling a marine vessel. The engine has a removable oil filter for filtering lubricating oil for the engine. Upon removal of the oil filter during an oil change, there can be an oil mess, including residual oil. It is known to provide an oil filter drip tray at the interface of the oil filter and the engine for collecting residual oil upon removal of the oil filter. A fitting may be provided on the drain tray to allow a hose to be attached, which in turn allows the residual oil in the tray to be drained outside of the outboard marine drive cowling. This in turn requires the technician to remove the drip tray drain plug at the fitting, then install and connect the hose, and then, after oil filter replacement, remove the hose and re-install the drain plug after the oil filter change. Hose removal from the drain tray can still be messy. In addition, since the drain hose must be routed outside the cowling, the design of the lower cowling must be such that the lower cowling upper ridge is kept low enough to keep the hose below the drain tray fitting height, allowing the residual oil to completely drain. Alternatively, the lower cowl needs to have a hole for the hose to be routed through, for draining.
The present disclosure arose during continuing development efforts in the above technology.